The Origin Of The Sunshine Kid
by KickingRoses
Summary: Vince keeps having nightmares in which he visits a place called 'Silent Hill'. Howard figures the only way to help him is to take him there, but he soon regrets it once they arrive and Vince dissapears into the haunted town. Fluff, adventure, horror...
1. Haunted

**_Author's Warning notes:_ Ok, this is my first MB fanfic, so obviously it's gonna be a bit rubbish. It's set at the end of S1, the boys still at the zoo and Vincy still blonde. These first few parts are simply pure fluff, you'll see why in the later chapters though. All the chapters are named and based around a playlist of my favourite songs that I thought fit the chapters. Oh and anyone who has seen the film 'Silent Hill'; y****es this is basically a rip-off of the movie, but with enough Booshy twists to shake it up a bit. Fans of the video game, I do apologize for errors or lack of fitting descriptions here - I've never played the video game, this is just based from the movie. I should also point out that I'm a bit of a slow writer, keep getting distracted by the bores of real life, so expect the next part of this next month at the latest.**

**Obviously I don't own the lyrics, Evanescence do. And the Mighty Boosh belongs to the legends that are known as Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. I don't own Silent Hill either, I just love the film and made a trailer...and it somehow morphed into this. **

**You can see the trailer by going on YouTube and typing the words "Mighty Boosh Silent Hill" in the search bar. **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter One - "Haunted"**

"Vince?…Vince?! Oh God, not again. VINCE!"

_**Long lost words  
**__**Whisper slowly to me  
**__**Still can't find what keeps me here**_

Kicking aside the empty sleeping bag on the floor of the hut, Howard Moon raced towards the wide open door of the hut. He paused for a moment in the threshold, looking out at the empty sleeping darkness of the zoo. Silence wasn't making an unusual visit to the place, as there was barely much sound at any time of the day, due to the fact there were hardly any visitors, or even animals, in the first place. But tonight the silence irritated Howard, as he called out his friend's name to be met with even more of the bastard.

"VINCE!….VINCE!"

Nothing.

Howard tried to calm himself, his heart now racing even faster than from the moment he'd awoken to the high-pitched creak of the hut door swinging playfully on its hinges, the chill night breeze bursting in. At first Howard's instincts had told him that maybe the wind itself had just blown in the old door itself merely for the sake of annoying him. Well the wind had made it clear to Howard only months earlier that he wasn't exactly on top of its Christmas card list. But then he'd shuffled out of his sleeping bag and turned around to see that, in the spot where ,just before Howard had fallen asleep, had been the snoozing body of electro boy, Vince Noir, was now just a half-zipped-up sleeping bag and a discarded copy of _Cheekbone_ magazine.

How long had it been from Vince leaving the hut till Howard waking up? The thought made Howard go ice cold. Vince could've wondered off into any part of the zoo. Or even worse, he could've walked out of the zoo and into the main roads, maybe towards the city. Then again, Howard tried to reassure himself, he could just be overreacting. It was also possible, after all, that Vince had just woken up and had gone for a walk. Though surely if Vince had awoken in the night he'd have done the usual ritual of poking Howard in the shoulder and repeating his name until the both of them were wide awake. Well maybe Vince had been unable to wake Howard and had given up and wondered off to find someone else to wake.

Howard ran around to the other end of the zoo toward the Chameleon Boudoir, stopping at the closed kiosk placed outside. He hammered on the wood fiercely.

"Naboo! Naboo, are you awake?"

The door of the kiosk opened and the tiny shaman stepped out.

"I am now, you muppet." Naboo grumpily replied, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What d'you want?"

"Is Vince in there with you?"

"No. Why? Ain't he with you?"

Howard narrowed his already small eyes, "Why would I be asking if he's with you if I knew he was with me?"

Naboo shrugged, "Maybe you wanna check you ain't seeing double. I have to do that sometimes."

"But…never mind," Howard shook his head. He wouldn't have been surprised if the shaman was stoned right now. But he was lucid enough to help and that was the best it seemed Howard was going to get. "Look, I dunno how long Vince has been gone for, I need you to help me find him."

Naboo rolled his eyes, before begrudgingly agreeing, "Alright, fine. You look around the zoo, I'll see if I can find him from here."

The first time this scenario had happened and Naboo had said those words, Howard had assumed Naboo was just shaking him off and being lazy by staying put, not making a single effort to find Vince. But he'd learnt in the five times this had happened that Naboo must be doing some shamanistic voodoo inside his little kiosk, as he always managed to quickly work out where Vince had gone to. Just a couple of times had Howard found Vince before Naboo had to tell him, which always gave Howard a chance to brag about his 'Wondrous Seeking Skills' - these being the times where Vince was usually found barely a metre away from the kiosk, in the Chameleon Boudoir. Seeing as he'd turned up there before, it was the first place Howard ran to after leaving Naboo's kiosk.

Howard entered the small dark room containing the cages of the chameleons, which were as wide awake as Howard was, watching him suspiciously as he entered. This was the one of the only times that Howard would admit to envying Vince's gift of being able to communicate with the animals of this place. He'd come to the conclusion that if he could speak to them then it would be much quicker for him to find Vince. What Howard didn't know was that even if he could speak to animals, none of them would speak to him anyway. They only liked the blonde girl with the big hair and the confusing face. Seeing that it wasn't 'her' who'd entered, they all scuttled away inside their habitats, whilst Howard turned on the lights to see if Vince was there like before.

He wasn't. And Howard was starting to panic once more that he'd ventured outside of the zoo. He turned off the lights and left back into the open small 'street' of the Zooniverse. Howard checked all the other nearby habitats; the reptile lounge, the monkey enclosure to around the chained door of the Jungle Room. Over and over he kept calling his friend's name, getting no reply.

"Vince! Vince!"

Silence.

"Vince! Vince!"

"Howard, I've found him!" Naboo suddenly shouted from around the corner.

A wave of relief flooded the jazz maverick.

_Oh, thank God! _He breathed, looking up at the starless night sky. He turned around to see Naboo jogging towards him, still dressed in just his Arabian pyjama trousers and without a shirt or his turban on. The shaman then raised his hand and pointed his finger in the direction up and behind Howard's head.

"He's up there! Look!" Naboo directed, his face suddenly sunken in with worry.

_Up there? What does he mean '**up** there'? _Howard thought, confused, before turning around and looking up in the direction that Naboo was pointing to. He then felt his stomach flip.

Vince.

His best friend was walking slowly, in a heavy trance, along the roof of the shelter just above the lion enclosure. His eyes were half open and Howard could just make out an almost dopey half-smile on Vince's face. A similar smile to the one Naboo normally had on him after his usual 'fun' with a frog that had escaped from the amphibian tanks. Vince was wondering along, completely unaware of the waking beasts lying on the ground below him. Howard's fear shot up ten fold. All Vince had to do was slip…and if the fall didn't break his neck then the lions would surely rip from beneath his head just as fast.

**_Still can't find what keeps me here  
_****_When all this time I've been so hollow...  
_****_Inside..._**

"VINCE!" Howard called up as he dashed around the back of the lion enclosure, through the open 'Zookeepers Only' marked door of the viewer's lodge shelter and up the steps to the large flat roof, presumably the same way Vince had got up there. _Why the hell did no one lock the doors to anywhere in this zoo? _Howard groaned.

After rushing up the stairs two-at-a-time, Howard finally reached the top. He continued to call out to his friend, who had his back turned to him, and didn't even wince with recognition at the sound of his name being cried out into the night. Instead, Vince was now just standing on the edge of the roof, his mind unable to see around him the roof, the zoo, or the fall before him. Wherever Vince thought he was, it was the farthest away from a zoo he could imagine. He was hot. Not like the heat of a rare British summers day; the heat that Vince loved as it meant he could lie out on the grass with a cool flirtini in one hand and a copy of Cheekbone magazine in the other.. Hot as in fire. Thick, heavy, boiling smog surrounded him. But he could hear screaming. Loud and clear all around him, but not of Howard screaming his name. It was more than just one scream. It was thousand screams, high-pitched and burning with agony. Vince hated it. He hated it all. But why couldn't he leave? Why did he keep being dragged to this place, this hell, every single night?

"_You belong here. This is your home. It's time, Vince. Come back to us. Come home."_

"Home…" Vince mumbled, his forehead sweating from heavy embers that didn't exist. "Home…"

"Vince. Vince, just stay still. Vince, can you hear me?"

"Home…I've gotta go home..."

"Vince, just turn around. It's me, Howard. Just turn around and we'll go home, yeah?"

Vince finally did turn around to face Howard, who was slowly edging nearer towards him. Howard felt glad as soon as Vince faced him as he'd told him to, but the relief was short-lived, as soon as Howard noticed Vince's eyes. Because they weren't Vince's eyes. Vince's eyes were supposed to be two round sparkling blue pools full of child-like wonder and joy that both endeared and annoyed Howard. The eyes that he was looking at now where thick black stones with roaring amber flames for irises. Alright. That had finally made up Howard's mind once and for all. This was no simple 'sleep-walking' case. There was something seriously wrong with Vince. Whatever it was, he'd find out later. At the moment he had to focus on coaxing his friend safely off the roof.

Howard held out his hands towards Vince. Although the idea kept popping into his head of just running up and grabbing Vince, Howard knew the worst thing you could do for a sleep-walker was surprise them. So he had to be patient, which was a hard enough task to do with Vince when he was fully conscious. Howard kept his hands out straight, moving one small step at a time closer to the blank-faced Vince.

"C'mon, little man. Let's just get off of here and go home. Back home to the hut." Howard said gently.

Vince shook his head, his glowing eyes staring straight through Howard, "No. I need to go to my home. My real home."

"Vince, you're real home is-"

"Silent Hill." The words came out of his mouth in a cold hiss that was so un-like Vince that it made Howard wince. The name itself had also struck a cord in Howard.

"Ok…ok, then we'll go to Silent Hill. I promise. But first you need to-" Howard's attempt to humour Vince obviously failed, as a twisted grin spread across the smaller man's face.

"No! I need to go now. NOW." Vince turned his back on Howard and once again looked out to the night-sky as if the drop before him wasn't even there. "I'll go back! I'll get there, I'll….I'll fly there!"

"_Fly?_"

"Yeah!" Vince was now laughing to himself as he spoke, "That's what fairies do, innit? They fly!"

"But you're not a fairy though are you," Howard said lazily, a snipe of agitation in his tone.

Vince turned to face him again, still grinning. If it hadn't been for the two demonic eyes, it would've looked like Vince was back to his old Sunshine self. His laugh was also so much colder and deeper than the one that really belonged to Vince. He spread his arms out at his side in the form of wings.

"Aren't I? Aren't I a fairy?" He cackled. "That's what they call me. Fairy-boy! Fairy-boy!" Vince began to chant in a sing-song playground voice. "Look at the pretty fairy! Ey, let's make the pretty fairy dance! Let's make him sing for us!"

Howard had no clue of what to make of the scene in front of him. He didn't have the faintest idea what was happening to his friend but it scaring him worse than any monster or villain he'd encountered recently. It was as if Vince was drunk or high. Yet he was so in control of his movements. Even his steps backwards to the edge of the roof where somewhat steady. Howard's throat went dry.

"Let's see if the fairy can fly, shall we?!" Vince sang aloud, whirling back around to face the edge. The lions at the bottom had been awoken by the electro boy's chanting above them and were now pacing at the bottom in their den, just waiting for their midnight snack to fall to them. Vince lifted his bare right foot and held it above them, ready to step onto nothing. He made a move forward-

"VINCE!" Howard cried, rushing forwards, even though Vince was too-far out of his reach. There was no way he could reach him in time.

_**I know you're still there...**_

Something then whizzed through the air, shooting past Howard's ear and stabbing itself into Vince's neck. Vince gasped aloud, before rolling his eyes back and falling in a crumbled, slightly shaking heap on the roof. Fighting the immediate confusion, Howard quickly noticed a tranquilizer dart embedded in Vince's neck. Howard looked around to see Naboo holding his blow-pipe in his hand, breathing a sigh of relief.

"A little bit quicker would've been nice, Naboo." Howard said, the words coming out less gratefully then intended.

Naboo frowned, "I thought everyone liked a bit of suspense. There's just no pleasing some people."

But before Howard could say any sort of thanks to Naboo stepping in just in time, his attention was stolen away at the sound of hushed whimpers and mumblings on his other side. Howard looked back to near the edge to see Vince curled up, eyes closed, shaking as if having some sort of epileptic fit. It pained Howard to see his best friend so helpless and scared; lost in his own warped thoughts. Howard moved to get down on his knees beside Vince and gathered him up onto his lap, holding him tight to try and stop him from shaking.

Howard ran his hand over Vince's moist forehead. Even though, for some reason, he looked even more pale tonight - Howard guessed it was because of the moonlight - he wasn't cold. In fact, he was burning up. At least his hell-fire eyes had disappeared beneath their lids and Vince seemed to be refusing to open his eyes again. Instead he continued to shiver and writhe slightly in Howard's arms, fighting the sedative trying to calm his body, muttering pained words, only two of which Howard could make out. The last two words he wanted to hear.

"…Silent Hill…Silent Hill…Silent Hill…."

What Howard first assumed was beads of sweat on Vince's cheeks, he soon realised were tears.

"Shhh, shhh, Vince. Vince, it's ok. You're safe now. I've got you." Howard tried to sooth, holding Vince tighter to his body, Vince's head pressed against Howard's chest. The writhing began to slow down, though Vince's face was still tight with fear and agony. Howard put a hand to his friend's hot face. "Vince, shhh. It's alright now…"

Vince then stopped shaking completely, his movements restricted to the heavy rise and fall of his chest as he struggled to breathe normally again. He sank down to rest his head in Howard's lap. Howard continued to watch him, feeling as if he couldn't look away until Vince's face was back to its normal peaceful contentment.

"That was a close one." Naboo decided to speak again.

"They're getting worse now. Every night…" said Howard, his eyes still on Vince. He then tore his eyes away to look at Naboo, "You sure you ain't got anything to see what's wrong with him?"

Naboo shook his head apologetically, "We've tried everything, Howard. Cleansing rituals, meditating, Night'Ol - nothing seems to work."

_There was one thing they hadn't tried yet,_ thought Howard wearily. Of course they hadn't tried it yet because they really hadn't wanted to. But now it was clear they had no choice.

"Look, first thing tomorrow, I'll go see a mate of mine; Dennis." said Naboo.

"Not another one of your mates who works at Dixons, is he?"

"No, you idiot, he's the Head Shaman." Naboo sniped back at Howard's doubtful tone. "He's the one who trained me in the ways of magic. He knows way more about the occult than I do. He should know how to help Vince. I'll go see him tomorrow, I've gotta get a book from him tomorrow anyway."

"What? A spell book?" Howard asked.

"No, Richard Hammond's autobiography. Dennis works at WHSmiths on Friday's." Naboo explained in his usual dead-pan tone. He then began walking back down the stairs, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, cheers Naboo."

"Oh, and Howard…"

"Yeah?"

"Try locking the door to yours and Vince's place next time." And with that, Naboo was gone.

Once Naboo had left the roof, Vince decided to stir on Howard's lap, murmuring slightly in his sleep, his nose nuzzling against Howard's body comfortably. Howard looked back down to his friend on his lap, finally looking somewhat serene again. It felt it would be a crime to have to wake him up again so they could go back to the hut, but Howard knew it had to be done. The lions were throwing disappointed cries of hunger up onto the roof where the two men were sat. Howard sighed, unable to take his eyes off of Vince. He absent-mindedly ran in his fingers through Vince's soft blonde strands, as he was just about to gently wake him up. But then-

"Mmm, Howard?" mumbled Vince suddenly, his eyes still closed.

"I'm here, Vince. What's wrong?"

Vince let out a huge yawn before continuing, "Tell the lions I'm sorry and I'll feed them tomorrow. They won't give it a rest."

Howard couldn't help but smile. The Vince he'd thought he'd lost - or was about to lose - just a few moments ago, had obviously come back to him. For now.

**_Watching me, wanting me  
_****_I can feel you pull me down  
_****_Fearing you,  
Loving you  
_****_I won't let you pull me down_**

**AN: Nothing to say except...Reviews are Love. Did you know that?**


	2. Chasing Cars

**Thanks for the reviews so far guys (spreads Love). This part is basically just pure sweet fluff, it might as well just be a kitten. I'll call it Phillip. **

**Lyrics are Snow Patrol's, not mine, they do not belong to me, just obsessed with the song.**

**Chapter Two - "Chasing Cars"**

"Skibedy-pop-da-wooo. Skibai-skoo-bop! Da-wow-wow-skibedo. Skip-a-di-doo-wow-"

"Howard?"

"Skibbe-bobbe-doo. Dibba-do-wow-scawow-wow-"

"HOWARD? Oi, beady-eyes!"

"Dappa-de-dappa-skidely-ba-bop-"

The music was then wrenched out of Howard's ears along with the earphones. Howard opened his eyes, pulling himself out of the daily jazz-trance, to see that Vince was holding the earphones in his fist. Howard's brow sunk into an irritated frown.

"Vince, what have I told you about snapping me out of the jazz-trance? I told you, it's dangerous. You do it again and-"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll 'come at me', I've heard it all before." Vince replied mockingly.

"I will come at you. It'll be very frightening. You won't be able to stop it. You'll end up in a trolley in the middle of Tesco's, asking if they sell sofa's. Everyone will think you're a lunatic. You won't be laughing then, will you?"

Vince just rolled his eyes at yet another one of Howard's threats that put about as much fear into him as Mr. Rogers; the toothless arthritic cobra. Vince shifted on his spot on the grassy hill, the warm mid-day sunlight bathing his face. He sighed and waited for Howard to finish ranting before saying,

"Can I have a go with the iPod now?"

"No you can't." Howard snapped without so much as a thought.

"Why not?"

"Because we agreed just half an hour ago; I get the iPod, you get the Sketch & Colour book." Howard pointed out. Though it hadn't been as much as an agreement as Howard giving Vince the book and some pens, and then him taking the iPod and shoving his earphones in before Vince could make a complaint.

"Yeah but I've pretty much used up all the pages now, and my wrist is starting to hurt. C'mon, let me have a go."

"No, Vince. We've had your music on all the way in the car. I need a break from Gary sodding Numan. Just let me listen to my jazz." Howard held his hand for Vince to pass him back the iPod.

Vince frowned, looking down at the iPod in his hands, a massive sulk on the way. But then suddenly his face lit up once more, his smile making a pleasant return. He looked up at Howard and happily handed over the iPod and earphones to him. Howard practically snatched them off, placing the earphones back in his ears, unaware of the reason behind Vince's inane grin as he kept watching Howard.

Howard turned the music back on, and managed to get a few beats of scat out, before the music died in his ears once again. He looked down and sat that the battery had run out, the screen of the iPod blank and refusing to show again, as much as Howard's thumb beat away at the buttons. Frustrated, Howard ripped the earphones out of his ears and tossed the useless thing into the grass, the only music now playing in his ears that of Vince's highly amused laughter.

"You knew there wasn't any battery left, didn't you, you bitch." Howard muttered, avoiding eye-contact with Vince by looking out along the field.

Vince kept on giggling, "You wanted it back, so I gave it back. Didn't wanna tell you coz then you'd be disappointed."

Biting his lip, Howard turned his head to glare at Vince. But as soon as he was met with those sparkling blue eyes and that cheeky grin, his heart couldn't help but melt. Especially when he'd remembered how Vince had been the night before. It was almost like remembering a different person. Looking into Vince's face as it was now, it was difficult to imagine any fear or darkness tainting it. Vince kept on grinning at Howard until Howard failed to keep suppressing his own smile. They then both leant their heads back against the bark of the large oak tree, letting the sunlight warm their faces whilst the fresh air refreshed them at the same time.

After a long hour-and-a-half drive so far, Vince had started to complain about his legs needing a stretch, which was a point Howard couldn't really argue with as his were starting to ache just as much from driving. So they parked the Animal Transit van, this time not containing any animal, in the lay by on the motorway. They then trekked up the hill and decided to collapse against the huge lonely oak tree at the top of the hill, overlooking the motor way on one side and a seemingly endless field on the other. They then just took the time to relax, Vince entertaining himself with his drawings and ignoring Howard's scatting, until he could take it no more and pulled the earphones out.

His mission now complete, as Howard was no longer scatting, Vince smiled to himself and reached a hand into the small paper bag beside him, pulling out a handful of flying saucers and stuffing them into his mouth. _Earned my treat_, Vince thought gleefully to himself.

Howard heard the rustling of the paper bag and looked to Vince forcing the sweets into his mouth, a dozen at a time. "How many of them have you had?"

Some incoherent mumbling came as a reply, English language stifled by the sweets struggling to make their way down Vince's gob. Howard waited for him to swallow some before he repeated what he'd wanted to say.

"It's only my second bag. I'm starving, Howard."

"I told you before we left to pack a sandwich with you. But no, you just brought a load of junk food, didn't you?"

"Not exactly."

Vince reached deeper into the paper bag and pulled out a small sandwich. The sandwich being two pieces of white bread, holding together a thick filling of flying saucers.

"But I'm saving that for later." Vince said, as if of some well thought-out plan of the day, before stuffing the sandwich back in the bag.

Was it any wonder the electro ponce kept having these nightmares? The blood-sugar content of his system must have been equal to the blood-alcohol content of Amy Whinehouse.

"You're gonna be bouncing off the walls later. It's not good for you, all that rubbish." Howard said in his usual 'know-it-all' superior tone.

"Well at least I brought some food along. Did you bring anything?" Vince challenged.

"I've learnt through all my many travels to let my mind have control over my body so I don't need food, I'll have you know."

"Which of these 'many travels' are you on about?" Vince began to laugh. "Going down the pub or going down round the corner to the post-box to send one of your stalkers letters to Gideon?"

"They're not stalkers letters." Howard replied defensively.

"Then why d'you write them in blood?"

"I nicked my finger with the pen. It was an accident. And anyway, stop changing the subject - everyone knows fasting helps centre the mind. Whereas if you ram yourself full of sherbet and that rubbish, your minds gonna be all over the place like…well like you are most of the time."

"Yeah, they're great, aren't they." Vince grinned, seemingly only having heard half of what Howard was saying. He then stuffed about six more sweets into his mouth.

Howard decided to give up.

**_Let's waste time  
Chasing cars around our heads._**

"So what you been drawing then? Let's have a look." He asked, noticing the sketch book lying in the grass beside Vince's leg. Vince picked it up and handed it to him.

Howard flicked through the pages, seeing the usual Vince Noir gallery that was normally produced whenever Vince was left alone with some pen and paper. Drawings of himself, the zoo, Naboo, Bollo the gorilla, some monkeys. And next to the drawings Vince had of himself was normally a sketch of a tall figure with a blank pink balloon in space of a head. Howard just kept his bitterness to himself and continued to flick through the pictures, each one more bright and happier than the last, decorated with rainbows and suns with smiley faces. Everything that Vince was made of - illustrated on paper.

"Not bad I suppose." Howard said, hiding his real opinions on the drawings.

"Not bad?" Vince reacted, slightly off-put. "I'm thinking of going professional. Everyone says I should. I could make a cartoon or something, imagine that? Bring one of the Charlie books to life in animated form. That'd be genius."

"Whoa there! Don't get ahead of yourself, sir."

Vince frowned. "What d'you mean?"

"Well they're good, you've got a gift, everyone knows it, but…you know, you've learnt before, don't get too far out of your depth. You've still got a lot to learn, at the zoo, from me…"

Vince's face softened into a touched smile, "I know what this is. You're still scared of me leaving the zoo, aren't ya?"

Howard shifted uncomfortably, "What you on about?"

"Awwr, Howard, I told you before, didn't I? With that whole incident with the Electro band. I don't need fame and all that. I'm happy at the zoo. And even if I did leave, I'd take you with me."

"Take me with you." Howard scoffed, trying to fight off the affection burning inside him from Vince's words.

Vince ignored the mockery, "C'mon, me and you are a team, you know that. We'd be never be able to get rid of each other. We're like Flannigan and Tucker, ain't we? Ey?"

Howard eventually nodded his head, "Yeah we are." A smile began to play on his face.

Vince then shifted down in his seat and, once again ignoring Howard's 'Don't touch me' rule, rested his head on Howard's shoulder. The surprising action sent a shockwave through Howard, but he didn't move away or protest. In fact, he didn't do anything.

"And we'll always be together, won't we." The younger man smiled and closed his eyes, not even needing an answer.

**_If I just lay here,  
Would you lie with me  
And just forget the world?  
Forget what we're told  
Before we get too old._**

Howard stared ahead at his feet. He only hoped that Vince couldn't hear how quickly his heart was beginning to thump. It had gone into override the second Vince's head had settled on his shoulder. Howard could feel the softness of Vince's hair against his neck. What was the matter with him? It was only just the night before he'd held Vince in his arms. But Vince had been scared and in shock, and Howard being his friend had comforted him, reassured him everything was ok. How come this moment felt so different to then? Maybe it was now down to the guilt gnawing inside him that he hadn't explained the full point of their journey to his friend. That must have been it.

"Vince."

"Mmm?"

"D'you remember where I said we were going today?"

He felt Vince shrug, "Some 'Quiet Town' or something, you said."

"Silent Hill." Howard corrected.

"That's it…Why are we going there again?"

"…Vince, d'you remember I told you this morning that you slept walk again last night?"

"Oh God, I didn't do anything embarrassing did I?" Vince asked lightly, "Didn't get off with any deer or anything?"

"Nah, you didn't." Howard replied. _Instead you almost died_. He kept that truth to himself. "But it's not healthy, you keep wandering off asleep every night. And last night you…well you kept talking about this place. Silent Hill…"

Vince went strangely quiet.

"Does that ring any bells?" Howard asked.

"No…I don't remember anything…I don't mean for them to happen, Howard-"

Vince's voice had suddenly gone deep with some bizarre guilt from out of nowhere. Like the voice of a caught-out naughty toddler. Howard instinctively placed his hand up around Vince's back and rubbed his arm.

"Hey, hey, I know you don't." said Howard softly. "But that's why we're gonna go there. So maybe you can remember something. Or we might find someone who knows why you keep having these dreams and they'll help you. Alright?"

Vince nodded slowly, "As long as no men in white coats try and lock me up anywhere."

"Of course they won't."

"'Cause then I'd have to tell them who the real nutcase is." Vince smiled cheekily up at Howard who got what he was getting at and nudged him in the ribs. This just brought another laugh out of Vince, and an eventual twitching grin out of Howard.

**_All that I am  
All that I ever was  
Is here in your perfect eyes  
They're all I can see._**

The two men just sat in the sunlight in silence for the fifteen minutes that followed. Vince eventually dozed off under the heat, his head still using Howard's shoulder as a cushion, Howard's arm still around his back and rubbing his forearm. Howard didn't even know he was doing it. As far as he knew, he was keeping his arm there just as a warning to whatever demon kept possessing his friend when he slept. A warning that any attempt to make him go off to some dangerous spot was just futile. Even if Vince returned to being the same chirpy giggling sod every morning, Howard knew he must have experienced a lot unpleasant confusion and fear every time he awoke from one of his 'wanders'. Not that he would ever admit it. Vince Noir, the Sunshine Kid, wasn't supposed to know anything of darkness. He wasn't supposed to know fear, anger, worry or bitterness. Those were Howard's favourite pets. And he vowed not to leave Silent Hill until this weird darkness had left Vince alone, and things were returned to how they were supposed to be.

But just at the moment, sitting there under the tree, together…for some reason, Howard found himself wishing that they never had to move. He wanted to keep Vince safe and close beside him forever. Vince didn't need the help of shamans or a visit to Silent Hill; Howard could keep him safe, if they just stayed there on top of the hill. Howard spent the next few moments just listening to Vince's peaceful breathing as he slept. And he couldn't keep ignoring the strange sensation buzzing inside of him just at the feel of Vince's head snuggling against his. They slept on the floor of that hut in the zoo every night, head to head, and this feeling had never come over him before. At least, not as strongly.

Howard suddenly began looking for an excuse to escape his own thoughts. Then one surprisingly came to him. The sun had moved quite a large distance across the sky since he and Vince had first sat down against the tree. He wondered how long they'd been lying there all-together. Howard looked at his watch. They'd stopped for their 'break' at half two. The time was now quarter past five. Howard sighed. It was time to make a move.

**_I dunno where.  
Confused about how as well.  
Just know that  
These things will never change for us at all._**

Letting out a deep sigh, Howard sat up straight, slowly bringing Vince up and awake with him. Howard gave Vince's arm a gentle squeeze as he began to slowly move back to life, his eyes flickering open.

"Ey…hey, c'mon. Time to wake up. Breaks over, little man." He watched as Vince rubbed his eyes and began to sit up, yawning loudly, "Did you have a good rest up?" Vince nodded, smiling. Howard patted his shoulder again, "Let's get going then."

Howard got to his feet and began walking back down the hill, towards the van. Vince grabbed the iPod, his sketch book, his cowboy and his bag of flying saucers and flying saucer sandwich and quickly followed after. He let out a scoff as he carried all the stuff in his hands, after placing his hat back on his large hair, "I'm still the pit-pony then, I see."


	3. Slipping Through My Fingers

**Haha...Can't believe I've actually been able to write this much. I normally give up after the first paragraph. Thanks for the reviews...more for this bit would be divine :)**

**Chapter Three - "Slipping Through My Fingers"**

It was now starting to get dark. The roads seemed to be emptying out more with every mile they passed, until they were one of the few vehicles left driving around. Howard wasn't tired, having recuperated all the energy he needed from the stop back at the hill. Plus he was kept wide awake and alert by the worry that at any moment Vince could fall pray to one of his night terrors. But so far the young Mod remained in a peaceful quiet sleep. After about an hour of bouncing off the walls after consuming all the flying saucers before, dancing and screaming to Gary Numan, the rush had eventually died and Vince had collapsed, asleep, against the back of his chair.

Driving along, Howard noticed that he'd soon need to stop to fill up the van's petrol tank. He soon spotted a sign for a near-by Esso garage and followed the route towards it. He turned around a corner, and suddenly his ears pricked up. He noticed he could hear a strange scuffling sound. No…it wasn't scuffling. It was _scratching_. And as soon as Howard noticed it, and realised what it was, the sound stopped. He looked to his side and saw the Sketch & Colour book on Vince's lap, now closed. The pen was lying as limp as it's holder in Vince's hand.

And Vince was still fast asleep.

Howard went cold. Surely the sound he'd just heard was Vince doing another one of his drawings in his book? He turned his focus back to the road. Maybe he'd just been imagining it.

Then the sound came again.

Shooting to look back at Vince, the sketch book and pen still lay inanimate in his lap. And the sound had vanished the second Howard had turned his head. Howard sighed, frustrated, looking back to the road. If he-

The sound came again.

And once again, Howard looked to see the sketch book wasn't in use, and the sound of led against paper was gone. _What the…?_Howard reached over and gently pulled the sketch book out of Vince's lap. Vince stirred slightly but didn't wake. Howard placed the sketch book down the side of his chair on his right. He then went back to driving down the road towards the Esso garage at the end.

And he didn't hear the weird noise again.

"Ahaha! Don't ever try and freak out Howard Moon. I'm to fast for any of you muvva-"

"Whose trying to freak you out?"

Howard jumped, letting out a small yelp before he could stop himself. Vince had suddenly sprung back to life beside him. Seeing the older man practically leap out of his skin made him giggle instantly, a laugh which continued as Howard tried to regain his trademark composure.

"Haha! Did I scare you then?" Vince grinned.

"No, of course you didn't. I was just…exercising. Doing car exercises, you know."

"Sure you were."

"How long have you been awake?"

Vince shrugged, "Dunno I just woke up to hear you laughing, I wanted to hear what was so funny."

"Never mind."

"Oh, c'mon, I'm awake now! I wanna know."

"I said 'never mind'"

_**I'm glad whenever  
I can share a laughter  
That funny little...**_

The van pulled into the Esso garage, Howard parking it in front of the nearest petrol pump. Vince looked at the wasteland area they'd now entered into. So blank and desolate. The sight just from inside the van made him wince.

"Are we here now?" He asked.

"No, I've just gotta fill up the tank." said Howard, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door. He stepped out and looked back inside to Vince, "You gonna be alright on your own for a sec?"

"Howard, you can leave me unsupervised, you know. I'm not a kid." Vince said back, quite forcefully.

"Alright, sorry, didn't mean it to sound like that. I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Howard went to move away but then looked back in the van, "D'you want anything from the shop?"

Vince pondered for about half a second, "Uh, can I have some Smarties?"

"…"

Howard just decided to nod. He then noticed Vince's sketch book had slipped out of the car when he'd opened the door and was lying on the concrete just in front of his shoes. Whilst Vince was distracted by texting someone on his mobile, Howard picked up the sketch book and carried it under his arm as he went to the pumps. Once he'd filled up the tank, he got out the sketch book and began flicking through the pages. It wasn't too long later that he was having to stop himself from vomiting.

What the **FUCK**?

The pad almost fell from Howard's quivering hands as he held it out in front of him. His eyes scanned each picture closely, but not for too long as he couldn't seem to bare it. Just too long a look at one sent his stomach churning. He shut the pad forcefully, as shutting away an unwanted memory, and placed it on top of the pump. Howard threw one glance back at Vince, who was still texting away contently on his phone, none the wiser to the images that Howard had just seen.

Stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, Howard turned and walked towards the little shop inside the garage. Only a few other people were stood inside, glancing at the cheap general products, as well as Howard and the large round bloke at the till. The images from the sketch book still flashing in his eyes, Howard went up to the till, trying to restore his mind to it's clarity. He picked up a tube of Smarties from the sweets shelf and placed them on the counter.

"Just these and the price of the petrol, please mate." Howard said blankly.

"Certainly," the chubby bloke rang up the price on the till. "So where are you and your lovely-lookin' lady friend out there going off to tonight?"

"We're actually trying to get to Silent Hill."

A heavy gasp from each of the strangers in the shop filled the room. Howard looked around to see all the faces of the customers were looking at him as if he'd just fired a gun shot into the air. He looked back at the till manager, who was staring right through him the same as the others. After taking Howard's money for the petrol and sweets, he gingerly handed him his change and receipt.

"W-why would you wanna go there?" The man asked with a stutter. "No one goes there. Alton Towers is only down the road, why not go there? Why…_that_ place?"

"'Cause I need to get there. It's important." Howard pressed eagerly. "Now d'you know which way I've gotta go to get there?"

"You can't. And you don't want to-"

"Didn't you hear me? I said I needed to get to Silent Hill-"

The gasp filled the room again, as if on a cue.

"STOP THAT!" Howard snapped at them all, turning around. He grabbed the tube of Smarties and began to storm out of the shop. "Thanks for nothing."

Howard walked back towards the van, his feet dragged down with the exasperation of the useless man at the till. He'd just have to stick to following the road signs and the directions he'd printed off the web site. Howard's disappointment receded slightly when he noticed Vince standing outside the van, leaning with his back against the door, waiting patiently like some loyal pet for Howard to return. The smile on his pointed face lifted Howard's spirits.

"You alright, little man?" Howard asked.

"Yeah, just needed a breath of fresh air. Are we nearly there yet, Howard?"

"Not far now I think." An estimate based on assumption, but on no real evidence. Howard in truth didn't have a clue how far away they were from Silent Hill.

Vince was just about to climb back into the van when Howard picked up the sketch book again from on top of the petrol pump.

"Wait a minute, Vince…" Howard regained his friend's attention.

Vince turned back around to see Howard holding out his sketch book towards him. Confused, Vince took it, wondering what it was doing out beside the petrol pumps.

"Why did you change your drawings?" Howard asked jadedly. Vince just frowned at Howard, not having a clue what he was going on about - which was nothing new. He then opened the sketch book.

Howard watched carefully as Vince's face slowly began to change with every turn of the page and every glance at the images inside. Vince's eyes were widening fast with fear and disgust, until they barely contained any of their familiar innocence. He ran one bony hand over one of the images, as if checking to make sure it was real. His jaw hung open and he turned to look at Howard, looking completely appalled at what he'd just shown him.

"Did you do this?" Vince practically screeched the question.

"What?"

"Did you ruin my pictures?!"

Howard was slightly tempted to laugh, "'Course I didn't."

But Vince just ignored him, looking at Howard as if he'd just committed the ultimate betrayal. "Why did you do this?"

"Vince, I swear it wasn't me!" Howard allowed himself a small ironic laugh at the fact that Vince believed he could actually draw anything that skillful - never mind the content. The laugh wasn't a clever action as it just seemed to upset Vince more.

"This isn't funny, Howard!" Vince cried, slamming the sketch book down into the dirt. He glared uncharacteristically at Howard, "This isn't some sort of sick joke!…Or is it? Is that what this is?!"

"No! Look, Vince, you know I could never draw anything like that."

"Well somebody did!" Vince yelled, growing somewhat hysterical.

Panic arose inside Howard. He'd never seen Vince get so wound up about anything before. It actually terrified him. What actually was Vince getting so upset about? The pictures were…horrific, yes. But they were just pictures. Just 2D images on paper, they couldn't hurt him. But, somehow, they had.

"Vince…you must have been the one that drew them."

"BUT I DIDN'T!" growled Vince, clenching his feet.

"Vince, just calm down-" Howard reached out for Vince's shoulder but Vince instantly slapped his hand away, wincing backwards in disgust.

"Don't - **_fucking_** - touch - me!"

Howard blinked, completely taken a back by this sudden change in Vince's personality. He'd just used one of Howard's lines for starters. And he was looking at Howard with nothing but paranoia and contempt. Howard had seen Vince get annoyed with him sometimes before but never like this. Never like he...hated him. And then Howard noticed something, just for a second - a flash of amber across Vince's eyes. Just for a second. He made another attempt to reach out to his friend.

"Vince-"

Vince punched Howard hard in the jaw. Howard winced backwards slightly, as if he'd just received a slap of a disgruntled old granny. It was more the shock that got to Howard, and the fact that it had been Vince who'd hit him. Vince. Vince had punched him. Howard looked at the smaller man, whose face was now crumbling from fury and rage to regret and despair.

_**Slipping through my fingers all the time  
Do I really see what's in her mind?  
Each time I think I'm close to knowing...**_

He shook his head as he stepped back, his eyes beginning to water, "I didn't….I didn't mean to…"

Vince gripped each side of his hair with his hands, screwing his face up in distress as he sunk to the ground, bringing his knees up to his chest. "What the hell is happening to me?!" He began to sob, wrapping his arms around his own tiny frame.

Howard looked down at Vince, looking so small and broken beside the huge van. It was bad enough seeing his friend in such a terrible state when he was asleep, but with him now being conscious made it so much more heartbreaking for Howard. Vince had clearly not been telling the full story of what he remembered from any of his nightmares, obviously ashamed of what he'd seen as much as he was of having subconsciously drawn those evil and twisted images in the sketch book.

Howard knelt down next to Vince, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders. "Hey, c'mon now. They're just pictures, Vince, they don't mean anything..."

Vince then launched himself against Howard's body, wrapping his arms around him as if clinging on for dear life. Howard could feel Vince's tears soaking his shirt, and his body was shaking, just as it had the night before on the roof of the lion enclosure. Howard hugged his friend tight, stroking Vince's head as it lay buried into his chest. For a moment he felt a surge of anger and guilt that Vince had been going through all this pain without him knowing, that he hadn't twigged sooner and acted faster on getting Vince the urgent help he needed to rid him of these terrors.

"What's happening to me, Howard?" Vince let out another sob, his voice cracking like a pre-teen's. "I dunno what's going on. I just keep seeing all these horrible things and…stuff happens that I don't remember. I'm….I'm so scared, Howard."

"Shhh. It's alright to be scared." Howard whispered, rocking Vince slowly in his arms. "But you ain't got nothing real to be scared of, ok? I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you. We stick together, yeah? Everything will be fine, just like always…you listening, Vince?"

Vince nodded fiercely. His eyes were closed as he cuddled into Howard's warmth, but his ears caught every comforting word he said, his mind replaying it over and over.

"We'll get you to Silent Hill. And we won't leave until you're all better. Ok?"

A snivel, then Vince nodded again, "Ok…Just promise you won't leave me, Howard. I...I can't face this alone."

"You ain't gonna be alone." said Howard without hesitation, "I promise. It's me and you, all the way, you know that."

A minute later, the sobs had ceased. The tears had dried up. Vince was no longer shaking like a petrified mouse.

"C'mon...Let's get back in the van." said Howard softly. He stood up whilst still holding Vince, helping his friend to his feet. He could feel Vince was still tense and stiff under his grip. Howard opened the car door and watched Vince climb inside, patting the younger man's back as he went in. Howard then closed the door and walked around to get in his side.

Vince sat with his eyes staring lost into nothing, his cowboy hat back on his head, whilst Howard climbed back into the van. Only when Howard had finished buckling his seat belt, Vince finally spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Howard." Mumbled Vince shamefully. Howard immediately looked at him, "That was so pathetic…getting wound up over a stupid picture…"

"Don't fret about it, Vince."

"But I **hit** you." Vince actually flinched as he said the words. "I didn't mean to…I didn't even know I was doing it until-"

"Hey, you weren't being yourself." calmed Howard. "I could see that."

"I mean…most of the time I do _want_ to hit you. Especially when you're being a proper dickhead, which is a lot of the time, I've gotta say. And also whenever you're banging on about jazz or some rubbish."

Howard clicked his tongue, "I hope you're going somewhere with this."

"What I mean is…no matter how much I want to hit you….I'd never actually do it. I'd never wanna hurt you, Howard, you're my…" Vince hesitated, slightly embarrassed. He gathered some courage and looked back up at Howard, his eyes shining with emotion. "You're my best friend."

"…" Howard struggled to reply, undeniably touched. "Well…ditto." That was the best he could manage - which even Howard knew was a laughable attempt - but it seemed enough for Vince, who smiled warmly.

_**Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture  
And save it from the funny tricks of time**_

Howard then remembered, "Oh yeah. These will make you feel better. Catch."

Vince turned in time to see Howard toss him the tube of Smarties he'd requested. An ecstatic grin spread across the electro boy's face as he caught them in his hand, "Ah, genius! Cheers Howard."

If there was anything to bring Vince back to his normal cheerful self, surely it was bright colours, chocolate and sugar. Howard smiled to himself, so relieved his friend - his best friend - was happy again. There was nothing he hated more than seeing Vince cry, even if it give Howard a chance to express his…care for Vince, in the form of a hug and words of compassion. The world only seemed to return to normal if Vince was smiling again. In Howard's world anyway.

Howard turned back to facing the wheel whilst Vince poured the sweets out into his hand. Just as the van began to drive out of the garage and back onto the road, Howard caught sight of something in the side mirror. A motorbike? It was only there for a moment, and then it was gone. Howard felt his stomach tighten, as he began to get the sense that they were being followed.


	4. This Is How A Heart Breaks

**Hey! Look at me! Actually getting a fic written. Who would have thought it? :P Thanks for the reviews guys, they keep me writing this nonesense.**

**Lyrics are the gooorgeous Rob Thomas'.**

**Chapter Four - "This Is How A Heart Breaks"**

The boys drove along the road in silence for a while. Some awkward tension still remained in the air from Vince's breakdown back at the garage. It had been a long time since Vince had ever cried. In front of Howard anyway. Vince knew full well his friend didn't like to be touched, so the last thing he could do was break down and put Howard in a position where he felt the need to experience physical contact. But, to Vince's surprise, Howard hadn't seemed to mind. But now the moment was long gone, trapped back at the garage. Howard kept his focus on driving through the darkness whilst Vince kept popping Smarties into his mouth, glancing out the window at the passing ferns and trees. He was happy just watching the scenery and the moonlight, until he spotted a half-dead pheasant on the side of the road and his brain began to burn as if hit by a sonic wave.

_"Kill me!…Somebody, please…Kill me! Please!"_

Vince gripped his ears, shaking his head violently, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Howard looked fearfully to his friend. His heart began to flutter again. Was Vince about to have another breakdown? Howard struggled to keep both of his hands on the wheel and resist reaching out to Vince.

"Hey, what's wrong? Who are you talking to?" asked Howard.

"Nothing. It's gone now." Vince forced his trademark smile back onto his face. Though what he meant was that the animal had _gone_. Died. "It was just a bit of a headache."

"Ah…well, that's not really-"

"If you blame the flying saucers again then I will….slash you up. Proper Saaaaff London style!" joked Vince, putting on his 'cockney bitch' voice.

Howard rolled his eyes, "Will you really?"

Vince shifted in his seat. He was back to being wide awake now after his nap earlier, but at the same time he'd also stopped bouncing off the walls with sugar boiling in his bloodstream. Now he was just bored. There was no signal on his mobile, his sweets were almost gone and the sketch book was still lying forgotten back at the garage.

"Are we nearly there yet?" Vince asked, knowing it was a cliché but still saying in the voice of a whinging seven-year-old.

Howard just sighed, "I don't know, we should be…"

"I'm really missing the zoo. And I was supposed to play table tennis with Bollo tonight in front of some of the keepers, 'cause he keeps lying to them that I lose. Now they're gonna keep thinking he's right and I've forfeited."

"We've only been gone a day. We'll be back there tomorrow and you can lose to Bollo again."

"I suppose you're…Hey!"

Vince shot Howard a proper pair of 'evils'. "At least I can actually do some sports."

"I do sports. I'm a deeply sporty man, Vince, I'll have you know."

"As if," Vince chuckled. "The last time we were in the park and someone kicked a ball over to you, you got down on the grass with your hands over your head, screaming '_Oooh, don't kill me_!'."

Howard winced, "The ball took me by surprise. Those things can break noses."

"It was a sponge ball."

"Yeah, people have been known to….choke on those things. Bits of sponge falls off and gets in your mouth, gets in your windpipe, it can be horrible mess."

Vince was ready to give his comeback (oh, it was a good one as well) to Howard's insane rambling, but was cut off by the sound of a siren ringing behind them. Red and blue lights began flashing around them. Howard looked in his mirror to see the motorbike he'd thought he'd imagined earlier.

A cop's motorbike. And they were signalling for Howard to pull over.

"Oh God, he's followed us." Vince gasped.

"Who?"

"While you were paying for the petrol, this big ugly policeman came up to the van and asked if everything was alright. He seemed right nosy and I pretty much just nodded and rolled the window back up. But he kept hanging around afterwards."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was gonna when you came out but then I got distracted by…you know," Vince explained, still a bit embarrassed. "And then you gave me the Smarties. I just forgot."

"Oh great, so now we've got a cop after us."

"He's just probably just wondering what we're doing out here this late, it doesn't look like no one comes along these roads much." Vince did have a point. The road itself was more of a large footpath, and there didn't seem to be a town around for at least a couple of miles.

Howard could see the bike beginning to catch up with them as they slowed. The usual law-abiding Howard Moon knew that he really should just pull over and not risk getting Vince or himself into trouble. But some new sensation was fighting Howard's usual cowardly instincts. They'd come so far already. He couldn't let one anal cop stop him now. After all, he was Howard Moon; Man of Action, Breaker of Boundaries, Drinker of steaming hot rules. On the other hand, thought Howard, the cop did look pretty angry.

Putting his foot on the breaks, Howard slowed the van to a halt.

The cop stopped his bike just a few yards behind the Animal Transit van. Howard watched in his windscreen as the heavy looking policeman hauled himself off of his seat and slowly made his way along to where they were, inspecting the van with his torch as he came nearer, checking out the licence plate first.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Howard sat back in his chair, the van merely stalled. As he was waiting for the cop to reach his window, he spotted an old, dirt-smeared road sign, showing a cross roads up ahead. One road straight led to Alton Towers, the other road turning off to…Silent Hill.

"It'll be alright. Weren't like you were speeding or anything, was it?" Vince chirped, optimistic as always.

A powerful impulse suddenly took hold of Howard. He put his hand on the gear stick. "Well I weren't speeding before."

Howard pressed his foot down hard on the peddle, sending the car speeding off away down the road once more. The cop hollered after them as they zoomed off and into the distance.

_**Don't you wanna go for a ride?  
Just keep your hands inside  
And make the most out of life  
Now don't you take it for granted**_

Vince's jaw was hanging open in shock, "Howard, what the hell are you doing?"

"Tighten your seatbelt, Vince."

"Howard, you can't just speed off when a cop tells you to pull over. Now we're gonna get in well big trouble." Vince wondered what had been done with the 'real' Howard Moon, and who the hell was this imposter wearing his skin beside him?

Howard was a bit surprised. "I thought you enjoyed breaking the rules."

"I don't break the rules. I _bend_ them. There's a difference." explained Vince somewhat seriously. "What you're doing is just stupid!"

"Look, Vince, people keep trying to stop us getting to this place. I don't want to let them, I want to find out why and I wanna stop your nightmares."

"Who keeps trying to stop you?" asked Vince.

"Well, the policeman…the man at the garage…Naboo."

"Why didn't Naboo want us to go?"

"Because…'cause he did some research on this place earlier and…"

"_And_ what? Howard, tell me!" Vince pleaded.

Howard's lip curled, "And apparently there was some great big fire in the town years ago. Loads of people left and the coal fires under ground are still burning. It's not exactly...safe." Seeing Vince's shaken expression, Howard continued, "Look I just didn't wanna worry you, 'cause you then you wouldn't wanna go either."

"Well, as it happens, no. I don't really wanna go anywhere where the ground is gonna open me up and swallow me into fire!" exclaimed Vince.

"Nothing like that's gonna happen. You keep saying you need to go there, so we're gonna go there."

"I'd honestly rather stick with the sleep walking then get burnt alive, Howard. You should've told me all of this, you bell-end!"

"C'mon, we've gone to worst places before. I'm sure it's not gonna be as bad as Monkey Hell."

"Monkey's are wimps though! All that 'Hell' was, was just a bit of fire, no banana trees and a big ape with a dodgy barnet. And anyway, that was your mess. This time it's _my_ mess. And I wanna know everything that's going on."

"Look, I'm sorry Vince, but we can't turn back now…especially as that cop's beginning to catch up with us."

Vince looked in the side mirror to spot the glowing blue and red head lights. Howard pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator. Feeling the force of the speed increase, Vince was thrown back in his seat, one hand clinging to his seat belt whilst his other hand went to hold his hat on straight.

"You're being an idiot, Howard! D'you wanna get put in prison? I sure as hell don't!" Vince protested, flinching at the thought. "I'd hate it. I'd never last a minute there. Ugh, those uniforms! To have to be stuck in those every day…it'd be a monochrome nightmare."

"Vince, first of all, it isn't the 1800's and we're not in Southern America - they don't make you wear those uniforms in prison. And second of all, you don't get sent to prison for speeding."

"No but I'm pretty sure driving away from a cop is more than just a slap on the wrist."

_**This is it now  
Everybody get down  
This is all I can take  
This is how a heart breaks**_

Howard sighed, noticing they still hadn't got rid of the filth. The turning to go to Silent Hill was in front of them. He turned into it and drove up the ridge of a large mountain, the policeman in hot pursuit. Beside him, Vince was beginning to hyperventilate, his hand clutching at his chest. His long fingers were shivering as they were clasped loosley together, in the shape of a heart that had broken it's bounds.

"He'll get bored in a minute. Stop panicking." Howard said, the words coming out sounding harsher then he'd meant. He was just trying to keep his focus on the dangerous road.

Vince kept on panting, his hand that had been on his seat now clutching over the centre of his chest, "We…we're…getting higher…" He was commenting on the steepness of the cliff to their left.

"Yeah, exactly, we'll lose him soon. He won't wanna risk anything up here-"

"No. No, it's that…I…" Vince was starting to sweat. "I don't…I don't like _heights_."

Howard snapped his head to look at Vince, undeniably startled by this revelation. Ten years now he'd known him and, as he flicked through those years like a pack of cards, he couldn't recall ever hearing Vince telling him about it. He could see his friend wasn't pulling his leg either. Vince's head was cocked away from the window, refusing to look out to the rising dip beside them, in spite of the huge metal bumper at the edge.

"You never told me that." said Howard, sounding almost hurt that Vince had never confided this in him. So much being 'best mates'.

"I didn't think I'd…have to…You're scared of flying…so we're never on a plane….Didn't think we'd…go up anywhere high." Vince was struggling to control his panicked breathing.

Howard took the smallest of moments to reach his hand across and pat Vince reassuringly on the arm. He then threw his hands back onto the wheel and turned the vehicle around the corner, keeping as far away from the edge as possible. Vince was now holding his arms around himself in a one-person hug, his breathing getting only more erratic. Howard looked in his side mirror to see they'd obviously outrun the motorbike. Relieved, he was tempted to stop the van and comfort his friend, but he didn't wanna risk the officer driving around the corner as soon as they stopped.

"Just try not to think about it, Vince, alright? Here, let's put on your music. That'll make put your mind off it." Howard picked up Vince's 'Best of the 70's' cassette and slotted it into the player, pressing the button marked play. The rock music boomed out,

"_WE'RE ON A HIGHWAY TO HELL!  
__WE'RE ON A-"_

Howard pressed the stop button, silencing AC/DC and fast forwarding to the next track. "Ok, maybe not that one. Howard pressed play on some old electro track with a less apocalyptic tone. "There you go. That's better, innit?"  
_**  
I remember when you used to be shy  
Yeah, once we were so fine  
You and I  
W**__**hy you gotta make it so hard on me?**_

But Vince didn't respond to Howard or the music. He was still holding himself tight, heavy shaken breaths coming out from under his hat. Howard wasn't sure what else to do. He just kept on driving, feeling completely useless as Vince continued to get himself worked up with no sign of calming.

"C'mon, Vince, we're nearly there." Howard soothed over the music.

Vince shook his head, staring down at his lap. "No…No, we're gonna fall. I know it, I'm gonna fall."

"We're not gonna fall. Don't be silly. That's why those metal fences are there, to stop cars from skidding off the road." Howard explained in a proper 'geography teacher' voice.

"It doesn't matter. They'll push us over."

"What? Who will push us over?" Howard asked, confused.

Vince didn't reply.

"Whose gonna push us over, Vince?"

A small squeak of a voice came from somewhere under the rim of Vince's hat. Howard turned the volume down on the stereo to hear. Vince was curled forward, still embracing himself, whilst whimpering some sort of nursery-rhyme under his breath. Howard's heart began to break as he realised it was the same as the night before. On top of the lion enclosure.

"_Fairy-boy, Fairy-boy. See the pretty fairy boy. Let's make him dance, let's make him sing, let's make him FLY!"_ Vince sang in as much a trance-like state as he had done before. "Fly! Fly! Fly! Make him fly! FLY!"

"Vince, no one's trying to make you fly."

The mod shook his head a second time, "They tried. They knew they couldn't but they tried. And they let me fall. YOU let me fall!"

Howard stared at Vince, dumbstruck. "What?"

"You let me fall! You _promised_ they wouldn't get to me!" Vince's voice was strained and cracked. "You said no one would hurt me. You said we'd stick together, no matter what. You'd said you'd never leave me, you said - You PROMISED."

"Vince, I meant it. I'm not gonna leave you." Howard said, determined, his quivering hands gripping the wheel. "I'll keep my promise, we'll stick together. I ain't gonna leave you."

"No. No you broke the promise. You let them push me. You let them…_**hurt**_ me. You promised…"

Howard didn't have the faintest idea what Vince was on about. Was Vince losing his mind? Was whatever that was taking over him in his dreams now doing it while he was awake? Vince wasn't even looking at him as he said those things. But they still managed to effect Howard. Vince was only telling the truth, after all. Because Howard was already breaking his promise. Something was hurting Vince, something more than just a height phobia, and Howard was doing sod all to help. The rage at not having a clue at how to help his friend was eating away at him like a disease.  
_**  
Never get what I want  
Never get too close to the end of the line  
You're just the same thing that I knew  
Back before the time when I was only for you**_

"Vince...Vince, if you're in there somewhere," Howard called out, needing to know if the Vince he knew was still with him, "Vince, if you can hear me just...Just, hold on, yeah? We're almost there...Vince?"

No reply. Not any of the sort Howard wanted - _needed -_ to hear. Just more mindless mumblings and whimpers from the electro boy.

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, the music on the stereo got cut off by a loud, ear-piercing screech. A sound worse than nails on a chalk board or Bob Fossil's singing (or, to Vince, one of Howard's jazz records). Vince shot upright and began to scream in agony, his hands clasped over his ears.

"It's alright! It's just the tape playing up!" Howard shouted, keeping one hand on the wheel as he used the other to turn the stereo off.

"Make it stop, Howard! Make it stop!" Vince cried aloud.

Howard was trying, but the off button didn't seem to be working. Clenching his first, Howard pounded at the machine but achieved nothing more than a sore hand. He could feel his ears beginning to sting, his teeth clenched together tight as he continued to try and shut off the bloody stereo. He was so focused on trying to stop the terrible noise that he failed to notice Vince poking him in the shoulder and pointing out what the van was just about to smack right into.

**_You take a hit now  
You feel it break down  
Make you stay wide awake  
This is how a heart breaks  
This is how a heart breaks_**

A tall, thin, dark-haired figure was slowly crossing the road before them. Walking at the pace of a zombie or a sleepwalker, like a suicidal hedgehog, they seemed to have no clue of the large Animal Transit van about to run them over.

"HOWARD!" screamed Vince. Howard looked up just in time to see the person in their path.

Both he and Vince went to grab the wheel and turn it around, swerving to avoid the figure in the road. When they didn't hear them run anything over, Howard took the wrong moment to breathe a sigh of relief. Because the next thing he knew, the front of the van had smashed straight into the side of the cliff. Howard's head was thrown forward whilst his body cut against his seatbelt, but remained in tact. His head slammed forward against the wheel, knocking him straight into unconscious in his chair. The last thing Howard felt was a bolt of sharp pain rip through his head. The screeching stopped. The only sound ringing in Howard's ears was that of Vince screaming his name.

_**This is how a heart breaks**_

And then - silence.


	5. Going Under

**This where all the fluff and whismy of the last four parts goes - it's mainly just angst and Howard's worry from here on out. A lot of quite vivid and graphic descriptions of blood and other horror images ahead - you have been WARNED. This part is just a bit of a rubbish filler to set the scene for the rest of the play; plot develops next part. Which I shall post asap. Thanks for the reviewers so far, they've been fab and more would be - in the words of drunk Fielding - 'amashn!'**

**Chapter Five - "Going Under"**

There something definitely wrong with the way Howard was lying, he quickly realised. He wasn't lying flat on the floor, all cushy in his sleeping bag, in his pyjamas. He was sitting up…his head rested on some hard surface. Howard slowly opened his eyes, and was hit by the surprising daylight that heated his brain, igniting a powerful headache. Had he and Vince spent another night in the pub and crashed in Leroy's car again? Funny…because Howard didn't feel hung-over. His throat wasn't dry. It was just his brain that was buzzing away painfully. He slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead. Howard then squinted his eyes to see the windscreen was slightly cracked.

They'd crashed the car…the van…into the hill. Oh God, he was gonna ring Vince's little neck for getting him so wasted! The little man always did relish the rare chance of managing to get Howard to come out for a night, just for the joy of getting him one to many drinks and then watching as Howard let go of his inhabitions - usually ending up in some embarrasing condition or situation by the next morning. And Howard hadn't even opened his eyes fully yet. He groaned as he feared what the electro ponse had done to him this time. Would he wake up married to a sheep? Would he wake up in Amsterdam tied to a fat transexual? No...no, they hadn't been going to Amsterdam. They hadn't even been drinking. They'd been going somewhere else. The memories began to flash back to Howard before he could fully take in what they'd been about. They'd been driving. Along the hill. Then someone had walked in front of them. They'd swirved...And then he remembered-

"Vince!"

Howard looked to the passenger seat beside him. The _empty_ passenger seat.

"VINCE!"

The passenger door wasn't open. But Vince was still gone none the less. Howard looked at his watch. It was half ten in the morning. He'd been unconscious for almost twelve hours.

Howard's hands flew up to grip his hair, beads of sweat already beginning to form on his head from the panic rising inside his chest. Where were he? Where was Vince? How long had he been gone?

Howard realised he'd get no questions answered by just sitting in the van. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the van. It seemed that they'd driven the car straight into the side of the hill. Howard guessed he could only be thankful they hadn't driven the bloody thing off the road like Vince had worried. Oh God…._Vince!_

"Vince!" Howard called out, rushing into the empty road. "Vince, can you hear me? Can anybody hear me!? SOMEBODY?"

_Anybody_… Howard's thoughts pleaded. _Help…_

The whole atmosphere around Howard was almost un-godly. There was no wind, no heat, no coolness or humidity. No sunlight. But it had to have been day time. Howard could barely see anything around him that was further than a five metre radius. Thick white fog surrounded him all around. Howard couldn't even see where the sun was in the sky, it might as well not have ever existed. And something…some sort of snowflakes were falling from the sky. Snow? In July? In England? Howard lifted a finger up to catch one on his finger. When it landed, he realised why none of the white flakes were showing on the road. They weren't white and it wasn't snow.

"Ashes?" Howard whispered. Tiny pieces of ash falling from the sky like light snow. As though from some fire in the heavens.

Howard then looked up slowly, to see the fog part it's way slowly, to reveal a large old billboard towering over him with the message:

**WELCOME TO**

**SILENT HILL**

**Twinned with Silent Hill, U.S.A**

Five minutes later, after an exhausting jog down the road away from the car, Howard found himself standing in the middle of the ghost town he'd read about on the internet. He looked around, telling himself he had to still be dreaming. Or that he'd hit his head much harder then he first assumed. Because there was no way that the scene around him now could be real. It even felt like a nightmare.

On the outset, it looked just like any normal town. If there had been any signs of life apart from Howard, if their had been crowds and people around, then it might have looked not too different than Camden on a Sunday morning. But without the life, without the noise and the bustling, it just didn't seem right for this town to be so big. Tall penthouse apartment blocks reached up to disappear into the ceiling of fog covering the town. Shops of classic brand names and industries lined the main streets, which there many of, Howard discovered as he ran down each one, calling out his friend's name over and over.

"Vince!….Vince!…Vince!"

The young mod was no where to be seen. Since leaving the crashed van on the hill, Howard had searched every sight he passed for a glimpse of Vince. Five minutes and no luck. It was if the galling experience of running around the zoo looking for his friend had been multiplied by a thousand. Even more so galling for the fact that nobody else was around. The town certainly did live up to it's reputation. Everything around Howard was just…dead. As he looked up at the buildings, a part of him hoping to catch a glimpse of Vince's face in a window, he began to notice thick black marks staining the walls of the buildings. Some places had even disintegrated from this 'great fire'. And, even after all the years that had passed, the ashes were still swarming around in the ether.

Howard's footsteps seemed to echo down the streets almost as loudly as his call of Vince's name as he continued to sprint. Where the hell was he? How was he supposed to find him in a place this big? He then began to wonder if Vince had woken up first and gone off to find help…or had he still been unconscious when he left the car. The idea of Vince wondering around this dead town chilled Howard to the bone. His friend was an adult, sure, but he was still ill. He began to fear the thought of looking up onto the roof of one of the buildings to see Vince in his trance-like state, threatening to 'fly' off as he had done on the lion enclosure. Howard stood still, cursing the racket of his shoes on the concrete as he struggled to listen out for….Wait a minute! Howard thought. My shoes aren't making any racket…I'm standing still.

Someone else's shoes were echoing from behind him. Howard turned around, peering through the heavy fog.

"VINCE!"

Sure enough, Howard could make out the tiny image in the distance of Vince's thin frame and feathered mop of hair. Vince was running somewhere, dashing over the road and disappearing into an alley.

"Vince! Vince, wait!" Howard shot off after his friend. He dashed down the street towards the shop he'd seen Vince disappear behind. "Vince!"

Every time he seemed to get closer to catching up with Vince, he'd disappear around another ally or across another street and vanish from Howard's sight. Why the hell was Vince running from? Howard assumed he must be in one of his trances. Unless Vince was playing another one of his stupid games and just trying to wind Howard up. But surely even Vince wasn't that…Howard just decided to stop thinking right there and focus on catching up to his friend. It was like Vince to just enjoy baiting Howard, the younger man always unable to take in the full impact of dangerous situations. The ghost town probably seemed like a playground to Vince, just as the dangerous Tundra had been a mere snow park. For once, Howard didn't care. He wasn't on the search for some meaningless sapphire this time. He just needed his friend to stick with him. Safe.

Vince led Howard down a few more ally ways until Howard noticed they were away from the high street and market section of the town. Howard noticed more abandoned, though once decent looking, houses springing up on the streets. Most of the roofs of the houses were burnt through, as were the broken fences of the dead, grey gardens. The sound of rusted swing seats still twisted in the faint wind made Howard flinch as he passed. He was beginning to run out of breath. He followed Vince out of the small neighbourhood and onto a larger road. As he came out, he just managed to see Vince in front of what looked like, to Howard, used to be a large old brick building. But only half of the walls were still standing, from the result of some bomb exploding by the looks of it. Howard's eyes were so captivated by the devastated building that he failed to see, through the relentless fog, Vince opening up the small hatch doors in the ground beside the building. When Howard looked back to where Vince was standing, he saw he was gone, but noticed the two doors open in the ground. Howard ran across the street, his skin starting to twitch irritably, as he approached the building. Howard stood before the open hatch, seeing inside them a set of stairs leading underground to the basement.

"Vince!" He called down into the dark hatch. Again, no reply.

Howard was hesitant to go in. The small gap in the ground and the large dark dip the earth made him have a flashback to just a few weeks ago when he'd climbed into a creepy cockney witch's box and had ended up getting trapped. It wasn't something he wanted to happen to him again. Then Howard remembered that after a few terrified moments of wondering around in the dark, he had eventually found Vince. And somehow, together, they had escaped. So all he had to do was find Vince like before and everything would be ok. That's how it always was.

Taking a deep breath, Howard walked down the steps, descending into the cellar. The further underground he went, Howard's ears began to pick up for the sound of Vince's footsteps in the distance, now simply walking, rather than running, away from Howard.

"Vince? Vince, can you hear me?"

Howard moved down a few more steps. A loud warning siren suddenly echoed through the town above, stealing Howard's attention. The siren was just like the ones they used in the war to tell the citizens that an air raid was coming. Howard looked up the sky through the hatch, expecting the Luftwaffe to come shooting over the town at any moment. But instead of planes, something else was shooting over the place. Darkness. Pure darkness, worse than any night. It blanketed the town within seconds and Howard began to feel more lost than he had the moment when he'd woken up in the van without Vince beside him. Howard could hear movements through the thick blackness that surrounded him. Not footsteps. It was something moving…slithering…on the walls.

Pulling out his lighter from his trouser pocket, Howard flicked the catch to produce a large flame, illuminating a small part of the area around him. He looked back up the stairs…had the cellar doors closed shut by themselves? It didn't matter, Howard told himself as he turned back to facing further down the cellar. He wasn't leaving until he'd found Vince. He hadn't come all this way to help his friend, only to end up losing him.

"AARGH!"

Howard had jumped, pretty much out of his skin. Something cold and wet had dropped onto the back of neck. A drop of water…maybe the pipes above were leaking. Howard decided to press on. He didn't have a single clue where he was going. No matter how many times he called Vince's name, he never received any reply. He couldn't even hear his footsteps in the distance anymore. Once again, the electro boy had simply vanished into the darkness. Howard pressed on, moving along what appeared to be a labyrinth of long corridors. The further he went, the more it began to strike him that finding his way back might be a bit of a puzzler. If only he had a map.

"You don't need a map. You're Howard Moon, master of sleuthing," He told himself, confidently. "You'll find your way back by your sheer brilliant memory."

The silence that followed actually shocked Howard more than the strange darkness that had taken over his strange environment. A part of him had been expecting a scoff or retort from his companion…then he realised he didn't have a companion. And suddenly Howard's chest let off a strange pang, as Howard actually begun to really miss Vince. And he'd only been searching for him for almost an hour.

He continued to cry out Vince's name repeatedly. As he turned another corner to venture down yet another corridor, he felt another cold drop hit the back of his neck. Howard winced and flung his free hand to the back of his neck, wiping the spot with his fingers, catching the liquid. He then held his fingers next to the flame.

Howard had got it wrong. It hadn't been water from a pipe dripping on him. It hadn't been water at all. Howard almost gagged. It was blood.

_**Now I will tell you what I've done for you  
50 thousand tears I've cried.  
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you  
And you still won't hear me.**_

Blood was dripping. From the ceiling. Howard raised the flame of his lighter up above him.

"Oh dear god…" he whispered, his hands shaking.

Above his _head_, covering the ceiling, was at least a dozen corpses over each corridor. Each corpse had been torn of it's skin and most of it's flesh, the rest of which was hanging torn like shredded fabric on the razor wire that bound the dead bodies to the ceiling. Each face of each body was immortalised with a look of unbearable agony and horror. Howard stepped back, his legs threatening to give way just at the sickening sight of them all. They were all just lying above him, continuing to fester and decay. Who had done this to them? Howard thought. And something else hit him hard like a thunderbolt at that moment. He'd seen this image before.

In the drawings. Vince's drawings. The ones that he'd unknowingly 'altered'. This was just one of the many disturbing things Howard had seen in those evil pictures. He couldn't even remember the rest, his mind having blocked them out, but he knew there was more. Howard was now more determined then ever to find Vince before whoever got to these pour souls found Vince as well. Or Howard.

Stumbling around, Howard continued to race down the corridor. He tried to keep his mind off of the revolting cadavers above him. Then soon found himself coming to a dead end. But as Howard kept his lighter stretched out in front of him, Howard managed to catch a glimpse of what was at the end of his path. One of the corpses was hanging by a noose of razor wire at the end, his flesh as damaged as the others, the blood vessels in his eyes having burst from the cutting metal around his neck. Howard let out a small scream at the sight and the stench of the corpse. He didn't let out his proper girlish scream until the bleeding eyes rolled, alive, and looked straight at him.

"AAAARGH!" Howard turned around to run back out of the labyrinth as fast as he could.

Until he smacked straight into someone else standing behind him.

"Vince? Vince, is that you?" Howard's hopes rose. He held his lighter in front of him. All his hopes quickly disappeared.

The person…the thing…standing in front of him wasn't Vince. Howard wasn't sure what it was. It looked like some over grown baby with skin as black as ash. In it's head glowed two tiny flames for eyes. It began to stagger towards Howard, before letting out almighty loud screech that almost deafened Howard. The cracks in the coal like substance of it's skin began to glow with roaring fire from inside it's body, burning it internally and sending it insane with unearthly pain. Howard flung his hands over his ears and tried to race around the creature.

"Oh **God**!" He cried, faced with twenty more of the disturbing _things_. They all spread out around him, mewling loudly like tiny toddlers in agony. They all began to advance on Howard, their black hard skin breaking with veins of red hot fire. Where these the children who'd been badly burnt in the great fire that happened here all these years ago like Naboo said? Had they survived and become these…_things_?

Howard tried to run away but the monsters kept advancing on him. They clawed at his jacket and tried to push him to the ground. Howard kept thrashing the flame of his lighter at them, but the heat seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Their blood seemed to be made of fire. All Howard's flimsy attempt at defending himself did was make them stronger and more determined to smother Howard to the floor.

"Get off me! Get off me!" He cried out, tossing the horrible things off of him.

This can't be real. It's just a nightmare. _Where is Vince? Where?_

In every adventure, in every mess Howard got himself into and was about to be thrown into a lake of fire by comedian monkeys, or spliced onto the body of a snake by an evil zoo owner, or sacrificed by a bunch of Parker people in the Arctic - Vince always turned up at the last minute to save Howard's life. Or at least make some attempt to save it before getting captured himself. So Howard was sure that his friend would arrive at any second and happen to know a way to get these monsters away from him.

_**So go on and scream  
Scream at me I'm so far away  
I won't be broken again**_

_Where are you, Vince?_ Howard's mind pleaded to know. He kicked some more of the burnt children off his feet and darted down the hallway, the creatures in literally hot pursuit of him. Why do they want me? They didn't seem like they wanted to kill him. But they all just kept…grabbing him. It was as if they needed him for something. They screamed out after him as he ran.

"I've never been good with children," Howard muttered to himself, wiping some sweat from his forehead. Vince was practically a child in a grown man's body most of the time and look how much he got on his last nerve. He'd even done it again, having led Howard to this…whoever he was.

Howard looked back over his shoulder, seeing the Hell Children begin to catch up to him. Some of them waddled, their black limbs and heads burning away from the inside, crying and reaching their arms out towards the terrified maverick, whilst others crawled, also reaching their arms out for mercy from their pain. Howard kept on running and found himself on another dead end. The lighter dropped from his hand and fell to the ground as he saw before him another leak of blood from the ceiling. But this time it wasn't just a trickle, it was a shower of blood coming from a severed head skewered on a pike on the wall. Howard let out another scream, which continued as he felt the burning hands of one of the Hell Children grip his ankle.

"NO! GET OFF ME!" Howard tried to kick them off but they pulled him down to the ground, continuing to claw at his clothes. Each of one of their touches was like being pressed with a hot iron. "GET OFF OF ME! GET AWAY FROM ME! GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!"

He continued to scream, louder and louder, as did the children. Howard shut his eyes tight, wishing desperately for the nightmare to end. That's all it was after all, he suddenly told himself. He kept his arms over his face as the monster continued to thrash at him. Howard tried to take his mind away from this hellhole. He thought of the Zoo. He thought of Vince. Working with Vince at the zoo. Annoying Vince with words about jazz. Crimping with Vince. Vince. Vince. Vince. Wishing Vince was with him then. Wishing his friend back over and over. The screams of the children had begun to decrease. The ashes that made up their little bodies suddenly evaporated into the air. Howard watched, exasperated, his mind unable to take in any more, and his head fell back onto the ground. The darkness had spread into the basement, and Howard lay helpless as a wave of it crashed over him, dragging him down.

Howard could feel, as he sunk into unconsciousness, his energy and life seeping out of him. His body and soul felt starved and dehydrated. He was becoming weaker and weaker, ready to give in to the clutches of death. He could feel himself teetering on the edge, ready to fall.

_**I'm going under  
Drowning in you  
I'm falling forever  
I've got to break through**_

_A pair of familiar, warm, long fingers clutched at his shoulders. "Howard? Howard, wake up! Howard! Howard, please, wake up! Howard!"_

Howard opened his eyes.

"Vince?"


End file.
